True Cross' Own Angel (The Blue Exorcist)
by Vidjauser
Summary: Chie Oshiro discovers that surviving death and her ability to repel Demons are more than just a coincident. After an attack linked to her mother's disappearance, she finds herself in constant pain over a wound that she should have died from. Forced into joining True Cross Academy by her brothers, Chie searches for the reason why she didn't die—only to discover her true identity.
1. I: Boom, Headshot

_**Chapter**_ ** _I_**

 _ **Boom, Headshot**_

While other people's minds naturally suppress bad memories, mine does not-though I wish it would.

I remember every aspect of that day-when the demons attacked, my mother almost being killed, and even the Grim Reaper strutting onto my doorstep like he owned the place. In fact, I remember the day so well that listen to this: once upon a time, I almost believed that the incident was nothing but something you find in a published novel; I, for one, would never read it. Who would? It's all about horrific fights that do nothing but end precious lives and steal a daughter's mother straight from their fingertips. I lived that story, so why would I want to read it? And to all the others who do read it-you're all sick bastards.

I lost my mother when she went missing five months ago in battle, but no actual signs of her death exists. She just-it's as if she stood up and left; and as my brothers would say, _her corpse walks this earth_ , because they disallow her survival. And here stands my clingy ass, hoping her inevitable death is nothing but a hoax, but my brothers say otherwise.

The one thing that disturbs me more than anything, though...

... is that I should be dead. I'm serious, more than dead serious. I'm not one of those hypochondriacs that constantly think an aching jaw is cancer. After I was separated from my mother and brothers, a demon chased me, and when he caught me, he scrambled my ribs so they faced the wrong way and punctured my internal organs. The squirming to slip away didn't help me. I was helpless in the hands of that demon. Wouldn't you think you'd be dead if that happened to you? Yes? I knew that's what you thought.

My sides still hurt to this day, as if the pain decided that it would stick around and haunt me like a ghost for the rest of my life. Even as I lay flat on my stomach on my lime-colored sheets, my chest bones crackled and ached when I breathed; I don't think they healed over the past months. Don't tell me to have it checked out by the doctors. What would I even say? _Hello, a demon punctured my lungs. Can I set an appointment for six-o-clock? Thank you._

I would compare the pain to childbirth; as women who have had a baby claim the contractions are the worst pain ever, but I'm sixteen, and having a little snot-brat running around sounds worse than my pains and childbirth contractions altogether. You won't find me opening my legs anytime soon.

Sometimes the thought of telling my brothers crosses my mind, but I can't; I've never told anyone since that eventful day. My brothers would think I'm crazy. Knowing them, they would say it's only hormones causing my breasts to be extra tender and sensitive. Weirdos.

Want to hear something even weirder?

Back at the attack, I touched the demon who attacked me (because that's the only way I could defend myself in my weakened state) and it surprisingly worked. When my fingertips brushed against the malformed skin of the (I think mom called it a Goblin?) demon, he howled in pain as his skin sizzled and burned away, and then the sucker ran for his mother. My hands hadn't been purified, but it was as if they had been. But then again, I was passing out from blood loss; it could be all my imagination.

Music blares through my earbuds and I attempt to focus on my homework in front of me, but words and problems travel past my brain instead of into it. I close my eyes and prod at my individual canine that protrudes from my top right jaw and passes my lip with a dented thumb; a common habit I did when thinking takes over. I love math, but looking at equations and theorems did not make me feel any better. I close my notebook, tossing the yellow, bunny sticker-covered item off my bed and remove my earbuds from my ears, tossing them aside without a care too. As I sit up, fixing my gray shirt and sweatpants, my bedroom door opens.

A serious teen stands in the opening of my room with his eyebrows scrunched in a pissed expression-my older brother, Masayoshi. His red hair matches the same angry flush of his face.

"Chie!" he snaps, "are you even listening to me?"

"W-What?" I ask, running a hand through the tangled locks of my auburn hair. Crap, with my earbuds in, I can't hear anything at all. "I was listening to music and doing homework and didn't hear you-"

"Me and Nobuyuki are already late for school, I don't have the time for this," he interrupts, "where's our uniforms?"

"Oh yeah!" I jump to my feet, missing my yellow notebook by an inch and scuttle over to my dresser by my brother. Kneeling down to level the dark-brown drawers, I pull the third drawer out and toss other clothes aside before finding my brother's uniform-a clean white shirt and black pants, folded. The uniforms belong to True Cross-the school my brothers attend. The two live in the dormitories-the same one from what I'm told-but visit often when my caretaker is at work and when their clothes are a mess-which is often, considering they somewhat fought demons in the Cram School.

I straighten up and hand both outfits to him, smiling. He takes them, holding the pair in separate hands. "There ya go. I patched up the pants with black so the thread didn't show as much as last time. Your jumpers and ties are hanging up in the bathroom."

When Masayoshi took the clothes, my chest and sides burst into pain. It happens a lot. I stifle my incoming grunt with a giggle. Masayoshi didn't notice, his eyes instead examining my handiwork; his face softens. He smiles. "Thank you, Chie. I appreciate it." He pauses briefly before smirking. "You know, you're pretty awesome at designing clothes. You should join your two brothers at True Cross and make design a line of fashion to protect us from demons!" he gushes out and throws an arm around my shoulders. By reaction, I gasp and ran my hand over my sides, shocked by his outburst. No, there's _no_ way that I will ever be able to join True Cross; it took a goddamn miracle for my brothers to gain a scholarship for their tuition and with mom gone, neither my caretaker, Kazuki and I can afford to pay for me to go to the rich kid's Academy too.

"A-Aren't you supposed to be heading to school with Nobuyuki?! Go, get outta here!" I shove him by the chest as he laughs.

"Okay, okay, I'll go since my smol sis doesn't love me anymore." He gives me a pouty expression, fake tears streaming down his cheeks.

"It's true." I smirk. "I don't love ya anymore."

He runs a free hand over his chest, his lips forming into an _O_. "I'm appalled."

"You'll more appalled when the teachers shove their foot up your two's asses for being late."

He chortles before ruffling my hair, making the long strands even messier than what they are. "True," he says, "well, stay safe and we'll come visit in a few days. Now come say goodbye to Nobuyuki."

He reaches for my hand but I poke my head out the door and call out, "bye Nobuyuki! I love ya, unlike Masayoshi!"

Seconds later my other brother replies, "I love ya too, sis! Bye!"

"You're silly." Masayoshi laughs and walks out of the room, waving.

Watching him leave hurt; I miss my family a lot and with the last of them gone takes pieces of my heart too.

I sit on the edge of my bed, my hands releasing the apparent death grip they had on my shirt. I smooth the wrinkles out from my tank top.

The front door slams shut.

"I should get ready," I say to no one in particular-just myself-and grunt. When you're about as lazy as I am, forcing yourself out of bed brought disastrous thoughts-but it's now or never because school doesn't just go itself now, does it? My body tells me later, but my mind tells me now, and I stand back up; the soft fabric of my sheets coaxes me back down, but I don't listen.

Most people would die for my room since it owns its own lavatory. Heck, give me room a refrigerator and stove and I'll never have to leave. The door leading to the luxury room forever stands next to the dresser on the opposite side of my room door. I stretch the lazy muscles of my arms and walk the short distance to the bathroom door and open it. The bathroom is probably the only room Japanese styled, the rest Western inspired. My mother spent a lot of time in America and loves most of the style of the country. The tiles along the wall are a wooden brown; a small bamboo bathtub sits on the far end, next to it a sink with a mirror above it. I step in front of the mirror and open it, taking my contact container off of the second shelf of four. I close the mirror and set the container on the sink edge.

After washing my hands thoroughly-double checking if no dirt remains under my fingernails-I rinse the soap off. The contacts were easy to put.

Now that my dull eye site sees through high definition, I pick my hot-pink brush up and ran it through my hair-watching my crystal blue eyes with the purple rim around my pupil through the mirror. I brush until my hair matches the smoothness it had when I ran conditioner through it last night, and left the bathroom.

I change into my school uniform-a white sailor blouse a size too big for me. Dangling in front of my chest, a red tie. With my shirt, I have to be careful putting on; From the attack, my sides were abandoned with one large rim of black bruises. Also, I have a strange condition to do with small bones developing underneath the skin on my shoulder blades. They poke out, giving a person a reason not to be oblivious of them when walking behind me. To hide them, I wear baggy shirts when going out. Nor do I wear bras because the straps irks them.

I exit my room and walk into the entrance room-excuse me, I mean the living and dining room hybrid. Around when I step in front of the coffee table, a sudden light catches my eyes. The curtains are open, shining a light onto the counter separating the kitchen from the living room. The glint shines again and I see that it's from the counter, emitting from a metal object on top of a black box.

 _Don't tell me they forgot something_ , I think to myself, walking towards the white countertop. They had: Nobuyuki's bentou and the key to their... well, dorm, I'm guessing.

Wait, the key looks familiar. I pick it up and examine it. Both Masayoshi and Nobuyuki had the same one. I had once seen them use it on their old rooms when they lived here, which is odd since the locks aren't the same (At least that I know of). Now I will be late for school because I have to return the bentou and key to them before they forget completely. School will have to wait!

The box is light as I pick it up and set the key on top of it. I walk to the front door in the kitchen and slip both my shoes on with one hand. The door knob doesn't turn when I twist it-obviously meaning that it's locked. I'm about to unlock it when a strange urge ran through my head:

 _Use the key._

I don't know why my mind told me that, but I found myself using the key. The door clicks and I push it open, but the outside doesn't come. I rather find myself in a whole other room, perhaps even house? _What in the actual hell?_ The hallways have a diamond checkerboard print with black and red colors. Pillars the color of gold and green extend up on the walls and last way past my vision. I charily step through the opening and the door magically closes itself. Jumping from the snap of the door, I turn around and see that the door has a cool glass pattern to it. Around me are the same doors, none with any numbers or signs to tell me what room it belongs to.

"Where the hell am I?" I ask myself.

I expected no one to answer.

"In the Cram School of course." A hand touches my shoulder; fingers folding along. A jolt of anxiety surges through my body, sending shock waves to my brain that tell me to fight instead of flight. So I do.

I spin around, the bentou high in both my hands. I fling it and it slams across the cheek of the _attacker_. Food unleashes and spills everywhere all over us. Soy sauce splashes in the man's face almost in slow motion and he forces himself to close his green eyes. The liquid substance falls from his white hair in small droplets, staining it as it drips along; his hand still reaches out for me while being frozen in place. His eyes then open, and I could see the shock in his constrict pupils.

"Hey you!" From down the hallway, a male's voice calls out. _Please tell me it's someone to get this freak away from me..._ I back away, almost into the wall. "Leave her alone, you asshole!"

 _Thank god... it is someone to help._

The man in front of me twirls around with strong hands by a tall male with brown hair and a blonde Mohawk down the middle. A vein, that appears to show anger in my savior, bursts from his temple.

Unfrozen, the first male growls and shoves the splenetic male by the chest, yelling, "this isn't what you think!"

Of course it is, you-

"You're harassing her," the second male retorts.

"I wasn't trying to," the first male mumbles and turns back my way, his hands flat on his chest. He stares me straight in the eyes, but no anger flashes, just awe. I want to look away. "Chie!" he says and elbows the second male as he charges him, holding him off, "don't you remember me? It's your childhood best friend..."

Then it hits me:

 _Oh my god, I just slapped Shadow with a lunch box._

* * *

 _ **A/N:**_ The OC Shadow, and everything that belongs to him is rightfully owned by a friend on Wattpad who allowed me to use him.


	2. II: Discovered

_**Chapter**_ ** _II_**

 _ **Discovered**_

Damnit, I can't believe I had just done that. Before anything else can happen, I-I have to say something or Shadow will hate me! "OhmyGod,Shadow,Iamsosorry," I apologize rapidly many times without the thought of breathing as I bow to him repeatedly. My head spins from the dizziness I gain from bowing too much. Two hands grab my shoulders, stopping me. I tilt up to see Shadow with calm eyes despite the soy sauce saturating his hair. The calmness pierces through me and I feel the instant relief come in more than just packaging.

"Calm down and breathe, Chie, your face is turning red." He shakes me forward and back very gently—not one of those violent shakes that could snap a person's neck—gentle as if I'm a delicate flower. But other concerns brought me to him. Me? Red? His freaking cheek looks worse from where I slammed it with the bentou! It pops out, becoming more bulbous as it swells with the passing seconds.

I eye it, watching it pop out before my eyes. "I just thought you were some creep trying to make his move on me," I admit, removing Shadow's hands from my shoulders whilst feeling guilty at the same time.

As my hands brush around his wrists, the familiar fabric on the cuffs of his jumper brought my attention to it—it's the same kind as the ones my brothers wore for the Academy. In fact, both of the uniforms from Shadow and the other male look exactly like my brother's. Am I in True Cross? How the hell did I get here? That key brought me here. Is it... somehow magical? My eyes search for the key, but I can't see it anywhere.

God, I sound even crazier for thinking a magical key brought me here, then again: HOW THE HELL AM I HERE?

"So I take it this isn't some kind of assault?" the second male asks. He crosses his arms over his black jumper and the tan sweater underneath. To be honest, with the serial-killer expression he displays, he looks more like the real assaulter here. I bet he's fluffy inside.

"Just a misunderstanding." I laugh nervously and scratch the back of my head. Now that's everything has calmed down, and no one longer slashes at each other's throats, I feel dumb for not recognizing Shadow right away. We basically grew up together, joined at the sides from birth like Siamese twins before he moved away. I wish he told me why. "Thank you, though. If this wasn't Shadow and if you hadn't come along, who knows what would have happened." I bow to the unknown male, showing my gratitude for him.

"What's your name? I'm Suguro Ryuji," instead of displaying signs of formalities or greetings as he spoke, he uncrosses his arms and tilts his head to the side, one eyebrow raised. With the many piercings adorning his ears (positioned symmetrically, two bead piercings reside on the fossa of his ears, two hoop ones trail down the middle of his helix, and a large clip-like piercing clamps down normally wear a girl would have her ears pierced), the dyed hair, and the clean-shaven stubble—I take it he's the rebel type? That doesn't bother me, though; let people be how they want to be and never judge a book by its cover—because it will become famous one day, and you'll be the incompetent one, my mother always said.

"I'm Oshiro Chie," I introduce myself to Ryuji, bowing unlike he did.

"Then you must be related to the Oshiro twins..." Ryuji says, uninterested suddenly; his eyes roll.

"Correct, Masayoshi and Nobuyuki. Do ya know them?"

"Yeah, and I hate them," he grunts.

"They're dicks," Shadow adds on. "Well, it's mostly Masayoshi. But they're both still dicks and nowhere as near as they used to be when we were little. Then again, I didn't like them back then anyways."

My heart crashes. From the way my brothers describe their time at True Cross made me feel happy for their own happiness, but right here stands two people who hate his guts. Now I wonder: do they truly like it here? Do they even have one friend? I hope so. I'm still the little girl who view her brothers as a role model.

"Yeah... things happened..." My index fingers tap together, and I avoid Shadow's and Ryuji's eyes. I don't want to go into full depth about my brother's changed attitude. I don't even know how.

I don't even have to tell them.

"We heard," Shadow replies, "your brothers gloat about them deserving attention just because your... of what happened." He closes his eyes to avoid looking at me sympathetically. Wow, even after all these years, he remembers I hate that. But anyways... gloating? My brothers? They rarely do that, and when they do, it's jokingly. My jaw drops to the floor and a small grunt from Shadow snaps me out of my short dazed state as he spoke again, changing the subject, "anyways, Chie... are you enrolling here at True Cross? I haven't seen you in any classes, and your uniform looks off..."

How am I going to explain this without sounding high off my bonkers? Scratching my cheek until I swore I felt bones chipping underneath my fingernails, I reply, "I uh, don't go to this school. Only my brothers do."

Ryuji's eyebrow raises higher if that's even possible. "Then how the hell did you get here?"

"I used..." I kneel next to the coalesce contents of the bentou and dig around in the food my brother would never eat—I'll have to make him another. Not that he deserves it now, but that's just contempt kicking in. The key was buried deep into an exploded onigirl; I stand back up and wipe the small partials of rice off the key then lift it into the air in Shadow's and Ryuji's view. "I used this key. It was one of my brother's, and I was meaning to return his bentou and this—thinking it was his dorm key. Don't call me crazy, but some instinct told me to use the key, so I did. Now I'm—"

"You're here," Shadow interrupts, gaining Ryuji's intense glare from his dark eyes. "And you've been reunited with your old friend." A smile crosses his face.

"Y-Yeah, but I can't stay long." I wave my hands apologetically.

"Huh? Why not?" he asks, the smile easily swiped off.

I open my mouth, but a voice other than mine calls out, "hey Bon! There you are!" From down the never-ending hallway past, Ryuji's way came lumbering footsteps. A short male with a bald head and glasses hanging barely off his nose jogs towards us, his hands moving back and forth at his sides and exaggerated breaths heave off his mouth. I basically turn an entire three-sixty degrees to find this Bon. Who the hell is he? And where is he? I expect the male to pass us, thinking Bon stood further down the hallway past us, but instead he stops next to Ryuji. "We've been looking for you," he says, hunched over and out of breath, almost confusing me for a few seconds. Oh! Bon must be Ryuji's nickname, right? Silly me needs to remember that just because people look alone doesn't mean they don't have friends.

"Konekomaru," Ryuji says, "I thought I said I'll catch up with you."

"I know, but Shima's becoming impatient. I came to find you when he began flirting with some girls and walked off," he says to Ryuji or Bon, (then again, I don't have a right to call him Bon) with intellectual bound to his speech tone. He regains his stance and his dark eyes wander towards us. "Oh, w-what happened? Is everyone okay?"

Shadow had long turned his back to the boys with his hands in his jeans pockets. We exchange glances, him shrugging.

"Everyone is okay. At least I think," Ryuji answers and walks closer then examines Shadow's cheek from a distance. Shadow quickly averts his head. Ryuji's eyes narrow. "I'll be back, Koneko. For now stay here." He motions towards Shadow and me with a thumb. "They can explain what happened, but I need my water bottle before that dumbass Okumura does something with it."

And Ryuji takes his leave. Konekomaru stares at us with a quivering brow, nervous expression. He must not like strangers. Then he opens his mouth.

"It's none of your damn business," Shadow says, asperity in his voice, as if he knew Konekomaru was about to speak. He half-turns, waving his hand in a shoo peasants kind-of way. "Now leave us alone."

I push Shadow aside gently. He glares at me. "But even though it isn't, we appreciate your concern," I say, not wanting to give Konekomaru the idea that I'm a bitch, "like I told Ryuji, it was just a misunderstanding." I close a small gap between him, but still stand my way, hands crossed politely over my skirt. "What's your name?" I ask.

"I'm M-Miwa Konekomaru." he ducks into a bow quickly.

I bow back. "I'm Oshiro Chie—"

Pain; it flares through my sides. It hasn't for quite a while that when it strikes, I jolt like lightning. This time, someone would definitely notice—it's inevitable not to. My hands wrap around my sides and I can't move, my body completely immobile because the flaring pain sent intense tears through my eyes.

"Chie? What's wrong?" One boy helps me back to my standing position (which hurt like hell). Shadow had his hands on my body. Gradually, they travel up and soon I see what he's doing—lifting my shirt up. It's all so sudden that I don't consider it until a small breeze punches my gut. No! They'll see my bruises! But it's too late; Shadow had my shirt lifted so the ring of bruises all the way around my ribs displayed. Before they could see that the bruises went further upper, I yank my shirt back down.

"Shadow!" I snap, wishing I'd slapped him. He looks at me un-apologetically.

"Is that a temptaint?" Konekomaru asks, "it looks pretty serious."

"Or is someone beating you?" Shadow asks, exasperated. His face boils red with rage.

"It's nothing!" I retort.

"Lay off our sister!"

My brothers. They're here. I could discern those simultaneous tones anywhere. Shit, did they see anything?

Shadow is knocked aside when Masayoshi's elbow pops into frame against Shadow's arm away while Nobuyuki took my hands saying, "what the hell do ya think yer doin' lifting her shirt up in public? You some kind of rapists?" My blue-haired brother growls at Shadow as Masayoshi stood between the two.

"When weren't doing that to her," Konekomaru says, precipitation visible dripping off his palms when he raises them. "He did, and for a good reason."

"There's no good reason to—"

"Take a look under her shirt yourself," Shadow snorts, "and you'll understand what we're talking about."

Masayoshi and Nobuyuki attack me with glares and I try to tell them with my eyes that what they said wasn't true, but I knew they wouldn't buy it. Each one took one of my hands and drag me away. Shadow trails along behind and Masayoshi stops him suddenly with wide, angry, constricted eyes. The maroon color of his eyes seemed as though real fire burns in his irises.

"Back off," he snarls.

"And allow you to cause even more damage? Not in your fucking dream," Shadow growls back, displaying his indomitable nature.

"Just let him come..." I touch Masayoshi's tense shoulder, trying to persuade him. He agrees silently and the four of us walk along with me not knowing where we walked. We are all quite, and the seconds tick away disastrously. I've gone five months without them knowing, but it seems as though this is the day they will find out. It scares me because I know I will have to explain everything, but to be honest, I'm not even sure my story is entirely true myself.

We reach the end of the hallway and Masayoshi looks both ways before he, Nobuyuki, Shadow, and I enter a room. Masayoshi bends over when he lifts my shirt, but he barely had to before his eyes met with the darkening of my bruises. He closes his eyes, releasing my shirt, as though he doesn't want to believe what he saw. Sometimes I don't want to either. The clothes dangle off my side again. He straightens up and opens his serious eyes, looking into mine while asking, "who did this?"

I didn't think about telling him who did this, only what did this. I purse my lips to a thin line and thought. The short seconds add onto the lie.

"Was it Kazuki?"

I shake my head.

Never would my caretaker do this. I don't care who thinks so. I will have to tell them the truth. I sigh before taking my seat in one of the student desks in the front row, resting my cheek in my palm. My bitten-down nails poke at the skin on my cheek.

"You three might want to sit down," I say, "this is going to sound crazy."

And so they did, and I explained everything. I told them of the banquet Masayoshi, Nobuyuki, our mother, and I was at. My brothers remembered and Shadow sat quietly, listening with his hands folded under his chin. I told them that when the demons attacked and when I was separated from mom and them, a demon attacked me. I bent the truth a little, saying that a demon nearly crushed me instead of flipping my ribs. As I explained, I almost felt the pain again; Masayoshi and Shadow clenched their fists. When my explanation ended, I looked up and immediately knew they all understood and knew I told no lies; all their eyes watch me, nice and calm.

"So Konekomaru was right," Shadow says, "it is a temptaint."

"Tempaint?" I ask, cocking my head to the side; I know nothing of demonology even though my mother is an exorcist. Surprising, right?

"'It's a demon-inflicted wound that causes the victim to see demon for the rest of their lives,'" Nobuyuki says, almost sounding as if he is quoting someone; maybe a teacher or role model or something.

"You know what that means?" Masayoshi asks, smirking in the serious situation. I'm almost scared of his next words.

"W-What?" I bite the inside of my cheek.

"You're going to become an exorcist like your big brothers!" he exclaims, happily throwing his arms out, but is impeded by Shadow.

Me? Become an exorcist? That sounds about as good as vomit-flavored jelly beans.

"Are you crazy?!" Shadow pushes Masayoshi away, acting as some sort of guardian.

"Partially." Nobuyuki stands, linking his arm with my left one; Masayoshi with the other one. Together, they lift me out of the chair and restraint me off the ground. My toes struggled to touch the surface again while my head snaps back and forth from both of them. Their combined smirks scared me even more.

Simultaneously, they say, "let's go Mephisto's office."


	3. III: New

_**Chapter**_ ** _III_**

 _ **New**_

My two brothers forcefully drag me all the way to what I suppose is Mephisto—the headmaster of True Cross Academy—'s office. Shadow trails not far behind and Masayoshi feebly attempts many times to chase him off. They don't work, forcing the redhead to abide by Shadow's relentless determination. I wish he would allow Shadow to be up here with me; he's not hurting anything or anyone with his presence.

Everything we pass is rimmed with gold and fancy-looking. I knew True Cross was a rich kid's school, but I surely didn't expect the walls to barf gold, silver, and bronze before my eyes.

Masayoshi opens a set of fancy doors with his one free hands and steps inside, handing me off to Nobuyuki so fast that I nearly slip and fall backward, but caught myself in the nick of time. Even Nobuyuki watches his brother in surprise as Masayoshi hastily slams the door—shutting Shadow out. He leans on the bisector of the two doors, his arms crossed and a satisfied smirk dancing along his face. He shut Shadow out, the meanie!

"Hey!" I gasp. I couldn't hear anything, but I bet on the other side of the door, Shadow yells at Masayoshi—banging on the door as my brother pops up and down from the force. "That wasn't very nice, Masayoshi..."

Masayoshi shrugs it off. "This is a family matter and doesn't concern him."

"Yeah, whatever you say, _father of the house_." Rolling my eyes, I face my attention across the room to a desk with a large chair behind it and comfy striped chairs in front of it—preferably the people sitting in the two seats. I blush, realizing that my brothers had charged me into the office at the wrong time, seeing that a student (I could tell because he wore True's Cross' uniform) with black hair, canine teeth, and pointed ears sat in the room. His bright blue eyes stare at me curiously. Across the desk with his hands underneath his purple goatee, sat a goofy-looking fella with strange pink n' white clothes and purple hair that curls on top. I almost laugh—the urge almost unbearable, but I don't. For all I know, he's seated behind the desk for a reason.

"Okumura, you're dismissed," the goatee man waves his hand, though he belittles whatever situation there is.

"Wait, so that means I'm off the hook?" Okumura jumps to his feet, his tone guffawing as though he's a little child.

"No, it doesn't." Okumura's face fell. "You are to return to detention."

"What a crock of shit..." Okumura pouts and turns around, bumping right into me. I jump backward into Nobuyuki, who places a gentle hand on my lower back. Did this Okumura guy really not notice me earlier? Was he really looking right through me? "Whoops, sorry!" he apologizes.

"It's fine," I reply, straightening my shirt out my instinct.

"Trouble from this morning, Rin?" Masayoshi smirks.

"Yeah with no help from you," Rin replies and passes me but with his head still facing towards me. "I'd love to catch your name later!" his dimples crease on his face as he speaks. He walks to the door, eyes no longer on me, but Masayoshi does not budge from his spot. His undeniable stance doesn't move either. "Uh, excuse me..." Rin sweat drops and scratches the back of his head.

"Nope." Masayoshi shakes his head. "He'll have to stay, Mr. Pheles because I'm not risking letting that Shadow guy in."

The goatee man (I assume he's the Mephisto my brothers have talked about…), who has been quiet since the first time he spoke, speaks again, amusement to his voice, "very well. That sounds marvelously interesting. I'll just have Rin serve his extra detention time working extra hard in physical education." He throws his purple, almost curved tipped boots onto the desk, revealing the blue and white polka dotted leggings he wears. Are you kidding me? This guy wears leggings. _Leggings_? Is this guy some circus clown? Will he really do this to poor Rin? His arms link behind his head and grins, two canines (almost like my one) poke through his top row of teeth.

"Why should Rin be punished for something of my brother's doing?" I ask, placing a hands on my hips, frowning. "Please just reschedule the detention, or better yet, give my brother one too." Crossing my arms next, I half-turn towards Masayoshi.

Both Mephisto and Rin stare at me but Rin speaks first, asking, "wait, so you're the sister of Masayoshi and Nobuyuki?" I stare at Rin, dumbfounded. What the hell is wrong with this guy? "Like… _the_ Chie? The noble sister of the Oshiro twins?"

"Ya idiot." Nobuyuki smacks the back of his head. Rin grabs at it, holding it while grimacing. "Don't ya ever pay attention? She's the person we compare yer food too."

"Oh!" Rin beams, deadpanning. He takes my hand, shaking it like the normal-American way, confusing me a little. Maybe some of my brother's influences? "Masayoshi talks about you all the time." A small sense of blush rises to my cheeks, but from hearing how Masayoshi talks about me as if I'm his role model; but in all reality, he's mine. Crap, I'm not listening and now I've realized that I've continued to shake Rin's hand up and down like an idiot.

"I hate to interrupt this gathering," Mephisto says, chuckling, giving me a chance to release Rin's hand without letting the awkwardness take over, "but I want to hear the Oshiro twins good reason why they interrupted my conference with Rin. Now tell me you two, and take a seat as well."

To be honest, Mephisto creeps me out—the way his devilish green eyes wander my way give me the feeling he's not entirely human. But I listen anyway, sitting down in one chair, and so do the others, excluding Masayoshi. I sit on the right striped chair and could tell by the texture of it, it's expensive. Uncomfortable suddenly, I slump down and gulp. Rin sits on the couch, Nobuyuki sits next to him, and Masayoshi still stands at the door.

Mephisto puts his feet down and looks at me. "So this is your sister? As Rin was saying?" he asks and Nobuyuki confirms with a nod. "What's your name?" he then asks me.

"Oshiro Chie." I tip my head. "I guess you're the headmaster of this school? My brothers hardly explain anything, and rather find it funny to throw me into the middle of the ocean without a life jacket."

"Your guess is about as correct as mine." He laughs. "And I know I am. Now tell me, why are you here since you obviously don't belong in my school?" He refers to my clothing. I play with the hem of my shirt a little and gulp. I'm suddenly uncomfortable with the fact I'm in a room full of boys (that are actually talking to me) with no bra on. "Well?" he pries.

"She has a temptaint," Masayoshi answers for me, giving me some sort of relief. Mephisto's eyebrow cocks up and he emits a questionable hum. "It's around her waist. Remember that banquet held five months ago? The one that was massacred?"

"The one ran by the Paladin," Nobuyuki adds.

Mephisto sighs as though the tragedy wasn't a tragedy at all. The ratio to deaths and lives are ugly; very ugly. Did he not care? He says, "Of course I do. I was there remember? Now what about it, Mr. Oshiro? Please get to the point so I may resume conversing Rin about some measures."

"My sister was there with us and was attacked. She has a temptaint from one of the demons."

"So? Temptains happen to everyone. What makes your sister so _special_?"

A circle of red flashes along the top of Masayoshi's cheek bones—anger. He's mad because only Nobuyuki and him are taking this seriously. That wasn't hard to identify by the way Masayoshi clutches his fist and uses crossed arms to conceal it. "It hasn't gone away. There's still signs of it—all around her waist. She's even in pain and it's been five months, Mr. Pheles. Five months"

Mephisto looks at me. "Is this true?" he asks. I nod, but I wish I could add that Masayoshi overreacts too much. He sighs. "What are you wanting me to do about it, Mr. Oshiro? Poof it away?"

"I want you to enroll Chie here at school."

Even though the term, _curiosity killed the cat_ is heavily used, the cat didn't die in this situation. Mephisto's curiosity grinned bright enough to supply the sun for millions of millennium. He watches me, scrutinizing the fibers of my body before throwing his arms out, speaking with high enthusiasm, "that sounds adoring!"

"Yeah!" Rin agrees, "it'd be pretty awesome to see the _Badass Oshiro Twins'_ sister in action."

This isn't an action movie. And I sure as hell, not the main character. Everything's happening so fast, that I barely catch on. I don't even have a say in anything.

"Wait, what about the money?" I ask. My focus is on how I would pay for this with mother gone, not on the possibility my temptaint could be fatal.

Mephisto pauses, his smile gone. He taps his chin. "Hmmmm," he hums, "true. I can't just let you in if you can't pay." We wait a tiny bit; Rin leans back, bored with the silent atmosphere that suddenly takes over. I'm about to mimic his actions, but Mephisto speaks up so I don't, "let's make a deal."

"What kind?" Masayoshi asks. He glances at Nobuyuki as though he asks for permission. Where's my permission in this?

Mephisto resumes, "if she can wow me in one month, I'll let her join and give her a full scholarship." He holds one purple-gloved finger up. "The month is free, as long as she impresses me. If she doesn't, she has to at least pay for the first month and doesn't join. There, she can learn all the rudimentary aspects of Demonology, Grimoire, Demon Pharmaceuticals, yada. yada, yada..." he trails on, speaking words that aren't even in my dictionary.

I spun around to look at Masayoshi; not caring that me sitting in the chair incorrectly is a rude gesture, my desperation overpowering my mind, I fret. "I don't have the money even for a month, Masayoshi. Please don't make me do this."

"You're already doubting yourself?" Masayoshi asks, smiling softly. He has hope for me even when I don't. "C'mon sis, think higher of yourself. You're smart. I remember the days when you tutored us. I believe you can. We'll be right here next to you, supporting you until the end."

I contemplate for a moment. If I at least attempt at trying out for this school, I'll be closer to my family! No offense to Kazuki, but I would rather be closer to blood relatives like Masayoshi and Nobuyuki. I know my Aunt is a retired exorcist settled in America (that's why we lived there at one point in our lives—when mom left for missions that took several months, we'd be left with our Aunt in America. Also, when mom went missing, they debated if I would move to America to live with Auntie. I declined, saying that I would rather stay close to my brothers. That's how Kazuki came into the picture). Maybe I'll be able to see Aunt more often? More importantly... maybe I'll find mom. She has to be out there. This is a sign.

I close my eyes and sit properly, nodding my head at Mephisto. "All right, I'll do it; I'll prove myself worthy for True Cross."

"Then it's settled." Mephisto smirks uncomfortably, his fingers tapping together. "I welcome you to your short stay at True Cross."

* * *

It took a while since Mephisto took his time with creating my schedule (fast, surprisingly). He said _I don't have time to begin my Academy classes, but I can start out with my last class for the Cram School._

Nobuyuki informed me that my Cram class doesn't begin for another half-hour, so he'll show me the way to my dorm; Masayoshi remained in the area to chase the relentless Shadow away and Mephisto shooed Rin back to detention—the poor guy. Side by side, Nobuyuki and I travel a few ways to dorms—passing many expensive-looking buildings and snooty students—shoulder-to-shoulder (or more like face-to-shoulder because of my structure being smaller when compared to my brother's). Nobuyuki points out everything, telling me about each thing he points at with a happy expression clear on his face. I listen happily, enjoying that the fact Nobuyuki's kindness. Though I ponder if this really is him. Or if he's faking it...

As we peacefully traipse through the beautiful scenery of the school's campus, we reach an enormous gray-brick building, standing taller than any mansion I've ever witnessed. Around it are large clean-built wall and an open black gate that girls walk in and out of. As I gaze up, Nobuyuki gazes down at a piece of paper.

"If I'm correct, this here is where yer dormitory is. Just keep in mind that not every girl goes to the Cram School like ya are, so keep it quiet, okay? I think Mephisto paired yer dorm up with a girl that goes, though," he explains, "hey! Yer pretty lucky, this here is the newly-built girl's dormitory! I'd like to see it, but as ya can tell, I'm not a girl." He places a hand on his hip, acting as though he's one of those popular know-it-all girls. I laugh and slap his chest.

"C'mon, let's go." I shake my head and approach the gates closer. Propped against one side of the gate stands a male, giving my other fellow sexes a flirtatious expression from afar. Then, as I'm closer, I see that the male has pink hair and appears to be the only male student around (other than my brother, of course). He notices me and pushes himself off the wall, arms crossed.

"Well, lookie here, an especially pretty lady~" he says, bending close to my face. The womanizer. I roll my eyes.

"Back off, Renzou, my sister's not to be googled and drooled at," my brother threatens with a serene tone and calm expression.

Renzou jumps backs a little bit. "Y-Your sister? Man, she's sexier than I thought!" he purrs. "Hello, Chie, I'm Renzou Shima, but you can call me Shima. It's nice to meet you." He looks like he's about to bow, but doesn't. Rather, he takes my hand and shakes it.

"Ah... you already know my name." I quickly shake his hand and pull mine back.

"Compliments to your brother."

"Wow, you must really care for me," I say to Nobuyuki jokingly.

"Yeah, I do. Shima better note that."

Shima laughs. "It's noted," he agrees, but I'm not buying it.

"I'll be back later with yer luggage, sis, and I'll have someone take it up." My brother hands me the list with my dorm number and roommate (a girl by the name of Eimi Aimi) written down. I take it and hug him, pressing my cheek against his chest. "I'm sorry I can't help ya any further. " I shrug and nuzzle closely before he pulls me away. "I'll catch ya later." He then leaves.

Footsteps creep around my back and then to my side before the piece of paper is torn from my fingers. I gasp and turn, seeing Shima reading my paper over. "Would you like help. Ms. Oshiro with finding your dorm?" He smirks cajolery.

"This is a girl's dorm..." I hesitate but have no other choice when Shima grabs my hand and runs through the gates of the dormitories.

"C'mon! This is done all the time!"

And Shima drags me up the path and to the front door of the dormitory, passing several cherry blossom trees, all equally beautiful. With the scared eyes, girls watch Shima and I run; my face flushes when they lean over, whispering to their snotty girlfriends. I know he's lied. Shima holds my hand, continuing to hold it as he leads me around but with his eyes down on my paper. We're quiet, and I like it that way because this boy is awkward as hell. But he's being nice, so I'm not judging. By now, we have walked up two flight of marble chairs. My eyes succumb at looking at my feet as Shima rushes faster, almost making me trip.

"We're here!" Shima stops and I ran straight into his back. My eyes open from their scrunched position and I see a white door with brown rims designing the front. Shima stands in front of my view too, smiling down at me. We're still holding hands. Ew, gross.

I pull it away and wipe my sweat (or is it his?) on the back of my skirt. "T-Thank you so much, Shima."

"It was my—"

At the exact time, we bow and bump heads.

"Ow!" I grunt, holding my head.

"Shit!" he grunts and we both lift up. "Sorry..."

"No, it's fine..." I rub my head. "Ah, I'll see you later..." I pass him and open my door, closing it behind me before anything else happens.

I wish I'd knocked beforehand; because in front of me, I see a girl—in her birthday suit. More importantly: all around her birthday suit, grotesque burns extend to about eighty percent of her body.


	4. IV: Headche

_**Chapter IV**_

 _ **You Give Me A Splitting Headache**_

"Who the fuck are you?" the girl, who I assume is Eimi, asks, noticing me when I (intrude?) into (our...?) dormitory. Her bitten down, yet nimble fingers work at pulling a black-over-sized hoodie over her body and underwear up her thighs, concealing the burn marks I had just witnessed. They were nasty—infected nasty. Her actual hoodie flips over her half-shaved dull blonde hair. "And what are you doing in my room? Without even knocking?" there's a hint of sarcasm in her voice. When she turns to me, I see the inhumane redness of her eyes with pupils almost like a snake's—those aren't eyes that have been crying—they're her natural color. I shudder.

She's not a tidy person; papers, trash, even molding food scatters along every crevice of the room. On each side, two sets of bunk beds are a mess. I'm afraid of sleeping here for two reasons now. The cringing I feel is hardcore.

Her foot taps against the unclean wooden floor.

"Well?" she asks when I don't answer.

My hands tremble. I'm disgusted at myself because of the scared feeling I have towards this possible friend. Swallowing and unable to talk, I extend the piece of paper towards Eimi; she's much smaller than me—in structure and height too. She swipes it out of my hand and her eyes work at the same pace as her hands across the paper. Her eyes lift to mine and I can see a dead reflection of myself through them—undead skin with hallow cheekbones adorn my features. I have glazed-over silver eyes with one dangling over my cheekbones. My entire body is a tremulous Chihuahua. "So you're a new roomie of mine, eh?" she asks, suddenly smirking before frowning. She must think I'm a puny ant. "Well stay out of my way. I don't want to force myself to hurt you."

Well, at least I know she is my roommate; a rude one.

Her eyebrow cocks up, pushing up a scar over her left eyebrow. "You're pretty pathetic, you know that?" Her eyes fall over my paper again. "You'll never make it in the Cram School, meat." As she brushes past me, she slams the piece of paper between my breasts, erupting pain from my bruises. I flinch and turn to watch her leave and see she's still half naked—nothing under the equator but a pair of panties you would see in a... ahem... sex store; black, lacy, and revealing (don't ask how I would know... I have two brothers totally into that shit.). I don't even want to describe what's underneath, it burns my eyes.

She opens the door and I have little time to act out. Beyond her, girls walk around and they'll definitely make fun of her when they see her embarrassing state.

"Wait!" I call out. She stops.

She turns around, standing between the wide-open door. "What—" she begins, then I tackle her and she falls through, landing on her back with me pinning her down. Not what I anticipated... Instead, I expect her to automatically beat my face in, but she's skinny, (enough to be considered anorexic, but I'm not saying every skinny girl is anorexic.) and not that elusive to take her down to the floor.

Girls from all around stop-dead, watching us with gossip material written all over their faces. Even Shima, who hadn't left for my short leave, stood around with a gaping jaw. Crap, I was supposed to prevent that.

Eimi blushes, grabbing my shoulders and throwing me on my back to the side with such force, my back arches with the pain between my shoulder blades. It stings, almost if the bones under my skin push themselves back up and pierce through my shoulder blade bones. My paper has slipped somewhere, but I'm not searching for it. I struggle to sit up; one hand slightly heaves me off the floor and the other one claws through the baggy mess of my shirt near my poked out bones as much as possible.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Eimi, irate, screeches at me and tackles me next, shoving me back down on the ground. The bones, with more pressure against them, scream bloody murder. My head hits this time and screams the same thing. "What gives you such a fucking right to tackle me down, pervert?!"

"Your..." How do I say this? _I just happened to look down and see your underwear after seeing you naked?_ "Your un-underwear..." I whisper to her, but even with all this dead-silence, I know the girls around heard us. "It's showing..." Her eyes widen with more shock than anger now. Shima steps in, pulling Eimi off. With a thump, she lands in front of us with a desperate attempt to keep her legs closed.

" _What's wrong with her?_ " Shima repeats, his gentle grip helps me to my feet by my elbow. "More like, what's wrong with you, Eimi?! She was trying to help you, but you make everything worse."

But in all reality, I had. If I had pulled her back into the room instead, we would be spared of this embarrassment.

"She's the one who attacked me!" She defends herself, moving so she sat on one side of her leg and held her hoodie down with her other hand. I would do the same if I was in the same boat; God, I feel like shit now. All around us, vulture eyes scrutinize us, locked down on their next pray. If I was her, I wouldn't be an opossum playing dead, I'd be running away as fast as I can before they realize that I'm easy prey.

"I didn't mean to..." I reply, "I meant to just catch you before you went outside..." I bet I sound like a pervert. I attacked a girl, who's half-naked. Ah, fuck me. "Since you're in your..." I rub the bridge of my nose and use my hand to conceal my entire blushing face. "...underwear... I didn't want you to embarrass yourself. I'm so sorry for screwing up."

Shima's hand touches my shoulder. "You didn't screw up."

"Whatever! I don't need your sympathy." The most common phrase used when someone wants an embarrassing situation to curl up and die. She jumps up and runs to the door, slamming it behind her when she enters. The circling girls watch me for a moment but decide that I'm not worth their time as much as Eimi was when they turn their heads away, dispersing and resuming whatever they were doing. Then there's the click of the lock on my dormitory from the one and only Eimi.

 _Great, she's locked me out, and I don't think Mephisto gave me a dorm key yet_ , I think to myself and rub my hands down my face frustratingly

I look at Shima and ask, "what time is it?"

He stuffs his hands into his pockets and answers, "uh, I don't know exactly."

I grunt and cover my face again. Maybe I'll use the key Mephisto gave me and go to class early... or late, whichever.

Shima's still next to me. I feel the shift of his warmth move from my side to my front. Hands touch mine and he removes mine from my face. He's smiling, belittling.

"Eimi is weird. If you haven't noticed already," he says and I roll my eyes, "I suggest you avoid her as much as you can. She's very forgetful and blames everything on everyone else." _The thing is: it was my fault, Shima._

"That'll be hard. She'll be breathing over my neck now while I sleep." I sigh and cross my arms.

He laughs. "You're funny and beautiful. Both attractive traits."

My eyes will fall out by the rate they're rolling. "Yeah, okay, Mr. Womanizer. I believe you. Can you do a favor for a beautiful woman, then?"

He takes my hands and I cringe. Don't get me wrong, Shima is attractive, but I can see through his white lies: if we would ever go out, I would discover his side-chick calendar quicker than a speeding cheetah pouncing its prey.

"Anything," he answers.

"Where's the nearest janitor's closet?" I ask, knowing this would come out wrong so I add quickly and disappointing the womanizer, "I have to make a phone call and I don't want to be around the other girls when I make it." I force myself to blush, to add onto the lie.

His hands drop casually to his sides and I know I've shot him straight through the heart. "Down the left hallway to your right," he answers. How? I don't want to know.

"Thank you." I take his hand and shake it, smiling before turning away. If I had pockets I'd place my hands in them to make this next scene look badass; exactly how the movies are. I see my paper and pick it up. "By the way, I suggest you find your way out of the Girl's Dormitory because down the hallway is a very angry-looking teacher."

"What? Oh, shit!" Shima gasps and runs past me, the teacher trailing behind him. They descend down some stairs and past my vision. As I follow, whistling casually as though nothing happened, I direct myself to the janitor's closet that Shima so happily told me about. I check around; no one's in sight—probably curled up in the comfort of their bed since their classes are over (weird since it's still morning). From the tucked folds of my skirt's belt, I pull out my golden key—exactly like the one Masayoshi and Nobuyuki own—but this one is my own. I wrap my fingers around the doorknob and fit the skeleton key inside and the door unlocks.

I'm still not over the fact that a key can even do this.

I push the door open and walk in, greeting with the same hallway as earlier in the day but with a different feeling, because I know I'm in the right place. Well, kinda. How the hell do I find my classroom if there's no room numbers? The door magically closes again and huff. I guess it's time to search.

The hallways intimidate me.

But I don't have to amble long, because behind a door ahead of me, screams and yelling emit. Two females: a blonde, and a purple-haired, both wearing a pink skirt (the blonde wears a sailor shirt and the purple-haired girl wears a tan sweater similar to Ryuji's), and Konekomaru stand outside the door; all of them bear worried expressions. As I jog near them, the distorted sounds become more audible; both my brother's, Ryuji's and... Shadow's? Oh shit, this isn't good.

I run to the door, not even requiring to slam it open; a deleterious mess waits for me on the other side.

The purple-haired girl looks at me, astonished. "Wait, you can't go in there!" she says, but I ignore her and rush through the doorway anyway. Desks are either flipped over, against the wall or broken into several pieces. Papers float everywhere, acting like flakes drifting through a violent blizzard and I'm pushing against the snowed-in piles. On one side of the room, Nobuyuki holds his twin back, his arms underneath Masayoshi's armpits, and on the other side Ryuji holds Shadow back the exact way. They're all screaming and shouting at each other. In one of Shadow's hands, he holds a gun, a black pistol, but Ryuji holds it down so the muzzle points to the ground. Masayoshi's fists are black and purple down to the bone and there appears to be another bruise on the other side of Shadow's cheeks. By the mouth, Shadow froths with agitation.

Shit's going down, and I've walked into the midst of it all.

"You're a fucking dick, you know that?!" Shadow yells at the top of his lungs. I can almost feel a burning sensation as though it's me screaming.

"Yeah, but at least I don't eat one!" Masayoshi counters.

They both struggle in the arms of their captors.

"Cut it out you two, or you'll get in trouble," Ryuji, who's bent over while holding Shadow around the waist, grinds his teeth together when he speaks. Precipitation saturates his hair and drips down his face. The muscles appearing through his torn clothing flex with the pressure he uses against Shadow.

"I don't care, as long as Masayoshi gets what he deserves for all his bullshit!"

"Bullshit? Since when is me protecting my sister bullshit?" _Are they fighting over me?  
_  
"Ever since you've been an ass about it. C'mon, Masayoshi, I don't understand why you don't trust me! I've been friends with Chie since we were both one. Keep in mind, you hated her for the first year she was born!" he hisses. "I was there when you weren't!"

"It's a sibling thing; you wouldn't understand because YOU HAVE NONE!"

Shadow snaps. His eyes are made of pure hatred for my brother. Looking as if he's deciding that he's had enough with Ryuji clinging to his side, he takes his gun and pistol-whips Ryuji in the face, knocking him off. Ryuji grips his cheek. With his now-free hand, Shadow lifts his gun up and directs it straight towards Masayoshi's chest.

My first instinct is to jump at Shadow and wrestle him to the ground, but I didn't. Rather, I jump out in front of Shadow's gun, the muzzle now pointing exactly between my forehead and Shadow's finger tremulous on the trigger. I'm afraid to look up, so my eyes meet his chest instead. Man, being short sucks.

Not like that's on my mind...

"What the hell is going on here?" I throw my arms out both frustratingly and questionably, but paused, looking at the wide, constricted eyes of Shadow's. There's something about his eyes that have me suddenly so drawled in. Something... that gives me a headache. I see a purple flicker in Shadow's eyes and from behind him; just for a few seconds and then they're gone. My head pounds only on the left side, and I know my brain's about to literally pop from its skull.

"DON'T POINT THAT GUN AT MY SISTER, YOU FUCKING WANKER!" Masayoshi's screams erupt through the classroom and perhaps even the entire building (where the hell are the teachers during this?), making my headaches become worse than what they were. I have to run a thumb over the bridge of my nose, but the migraine doesn't calm down. It's growing worse.

Shadow's now hesitating, his anger replaced with worry. "Chie—I'm so sorry... Are you okay? You're not looking okay..." His gun drops to the ground.

And I do the same.

"CHIE!"

* * *

 _Be careful with her chest!_

 _I'm trying._

 _Masayoshi will notice!_

 _Yukio's too preoccupied with punishing Shadow and him._

I don't know how long I stared into a pit of darkness, but when the black disappears and my mind clears, warm lips meet my own. A heavy pressure presses against my chest and a nice breath excursions down my esophagus and into their home in my lungs. My chest expands and air gives me this relief I didn't even know I needed. I cough and roll to my side and curl into fetal position to rid myself of my coughing fit in a comfortable position.

When that's over, I open my eyes, giving myself time before I could actually see. When I do, I see Ryuji hovering over me from the side—one masculine hand next to my face and the other next to my chest; he's kneeling next to me—concern written all over his serial-killer face, making it look calm.

"Sis, yer okay!" Nobuyuki squeals from my other side and I'm pulled into an embrace at his chest. I cough again and push away for space.

"Of course I am." I cough. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"You weren't breathing," Ryuji answers and I can't help but both look and feel shocked.

"What? _How_?"

Both Ryuji and Nobuyuki's eyes cast over to Masayoshi and Shadow, who sit back to back on the floor, crisscrossed like babies. A tall man with brown hair, a black-formal trench-coat stands in front of them with his back towards us. He's scolding them, so I bet he's the teacher.

Us trio exchange glances.

"I don't know," Ryuji says, "but I bet it has something to do with Shadow."


	5. V: Don't Hit Him!

_**Chapter V**_

 _ **Don't Hit Him!**_

Between Ryuji and Shadow, I stand in a straight line with everyone in this order: Rin in the front, Shima next to him, the blonde (who I learned was Shiemi Moriyama), Konekomaru, Ryuji, me, Shadow, the purple-haired girl (who's name is Izumo Kamaki), Eimi, a boy with a puppet on his hand, (I don't know his name), Masayoshi, and Nobuyuki. We stand in an open arena, one that reminds me of the Colosseum in Rome. An indent caving in front of us holds cages with enormous frogs in them? They must be some kind of demon... strange. I can tell that the arena isn't new because the walls are gray stone, and the floor is a horribly painted blue. I don't know what contraption hovers above the arena, but I know it's a platform that restrained the cages with long, black chains.

My first Cram class was horrible, but at least I understand the schedule now; it's new, the entire schedule for this year—two classes at the Academy, a break so the Cram students can have two classes, (Yukio, our Demon Pharmaceuticals teacher said it was so Cram students weren't so exhausted by the end of the day and put forth more effort), and then a final three classes at the Academy. Both the teachers and students act like it's the most horrible thing—I would say I agree, but I can't exactly since it's my first year; Bon—Ryuji and the others have been used to the old schedule; something honed to them.

Mr. Tsubaki, our physical education teacher, paces in front of us with his arms behind his back. His over-sized exorcist coat reaches about his mid-calf, and he has the ugliest facial features ever (no offense): his chins are shaped like... balls, and unshaven. His eyebrows are bushier than the two pieces of hair supposedly his mustache above his lip, and his brown hair is styled in a bulbous Pompeii. On his right hip rests a leathery black whip.

He stops pacing somewhere around Rin and Shima and speaks, "today, we're not using the Repears. Instead, we have something new for you exorcist trainees to practice on."

Rin pipes up curiously, moving a black strap and fiddling with a red casing over something he didn't have back at Mephisto's office. "Wow, what is it?" he asks.

"We have no exact name for them since they're a new species of a low-class demon running about, but expect to be messing with a demon who possess horses. For now, I'll call them Shadow Horses."

"Shadow Horses?" Rin pipes in again, less excitable, but still excited.

"So that's what's down there," Izumo says, crossing her arms as she stares down from her spot on the edge of the arena.

Rin glimpses at them before looking back at Tsubaki. "are we going to be exorcising the horses, or what?" he asks.

Mr. Tsubaki replies, "Paladin Arthur is hoping that we could break them so we could _gloriously_ ride them into battle, but I fear they'll break us instead."

"Oi, brother, I guess those horseback lessons we got back in America will pay off!" Nobuyuki laughs next to Masayoshi, elbowing him.

Masayoshi laughs too, but full heartily. "Right, bro."

"I'm guessing that since these are new demons, we don't know their fatal verse?" Ryuji asks.

"Correct," Mr. Tsubaki answers, nodding.

"So what's the plan?" Ryuji asks.

"I don't have enough horses for everyone so I'll have you all paired up with each other..." Mr. Tsubaki pauses, his head moving down the line of people. His lips silently speak words, so I guess he's counting. "We luckily have an even amount of people, so that means everyone will have a partner for the second part of training. I'll explain everything further once everyone has a partner."

Ryuji, Shadow, and Masayoshi all turn towards me and chaos reins even before it does physically. Hospitality prickles at the base of my skull and down the nerves in my neck.

"Would you like to be my partner, Chie?" Shadow asks. Ryuji's mouth moves like he's about to ask the same question, but Shadow's words overpower his. He heaves a frustrated grunt, crossing his arms in defeat before walking away. I almost feel guilty.

"No, Shadow, she won't. Since she's my sister, she'll be my partner for this," Masayoshi replies, "I'm not placing her life in your hands."

"You have a brother too, so go mess with him, you freak," Shadow retorts.

"You're the true freak."

Shadow growls and steps forward and I'm crushed between him and Masayoshi. A mouthful of Shadow's scent suffocates me when his shirt presses against my face. Masayoshi's against my back and Shadow's against my chest. In a struggle to break free, I wave my arms helplessly then push against both their chests in weak and feeble attempts. They don't move at first, but do when I yelled at them, "stop it!" I bellow. Their broken concentration allows me to shove them away, "I'll be Ryuji's partner since you're both too ignorant to understand that a girl needs her space!"

"Sis..." Masayoshi whines.

I swerve to look at him, creating a bubble with my arms. "Personal space, Masayoshi. Invade it one more time and I'll ignore you officially." I walk away from my spot between him and pass Rin (who's all tense for a reason), approaching the wide-eyed Ryuji. "Oh my god," I grunt, annoyed by Shadow's and Masayoshi's childish fights over me. "I swear, boy's sometimes..." I say, but stop, forgetting it's Ryuji I'm talking to. Another neighbor in the male sex. "Oh... umm... boys... they're great..." My voice is a whisper.

Ryuji's eyebrow cocks up. "And you choose me—a boy of all things—as a partner? You should re-evaluate your words, Chie."

"Well..." I glance around. Everyone, from the looks of it, had a partner already; Rin and Shima stood shoulder-to-shoulder, Shiemi giggles at the poker-face Izumo, Eimi and the Puppet Student stand silently next to each other, Konekomaru and Shadow stand next to each other while Shadow stares daggers at Masayoshi and Nobuyuki, who are obviously partnered up with each other. My eyes meet Ryuji's onyx ones again. "We're the last ones left. Either take it or leave it."

"I'll take it," he says monotonously, "but let me do the taming."

I frown. "Huh, why?"

His eyebrow cocks up. I swear he has dimples on his forehead. "Did you not remember what happened back in the classroom? You stopped breathing. I was lucky to perform CPR before Masayoshi noticed, or he would have castrated Shadow."

"Wait CPR?" I ask, heat rising to my cheeks. "That means you—"

Mr. Tsubaki's voice booms over mine. Through the commotion, he's made it to the platform, standing over us with mighty authority, without me noticing his departure. "Great! Now that everyone has their partners... _though I wish I had my Kitten_..." he mumbles the last part, "you can pair up with any of the Shadow Horses. Feel free to give them names, code names, or whatever, but don't expect them to stay. If the horse can't be broken, then they will..." he slides a thumb over his throat, indication that the exorcist would execute them. "Before that, we will go one pair at a time and each individual will get one try to tame the horse by themselves before we begin the second part of our training. The first student that does, receives extra credit. Any volunteers?" Rin childishly raises his hand and I see Shima groan in frustration. He must not want to go. "All right, Mr. Okumura and Mr. Shima are up first. Don't disappoint me."

"Yeah, let's do it!" Rin high-fives the unwilling Shima before they stand on the edge of the arena and slide down the steep without hesitation. Ryuji walks over to the edge, crossing his arms. Izumo sits and the rest stand. I'm so uncomfortable with the guys at the moment that I stand next to Shiemi, who's sweet as can be.

"Hey, Chie!" speaking softly, she smiles, "how do you like everything so far?"

I shrug, letting the words carelessly fall off my tongue, "it's kind of odd."

"Why's that?"

"I don't know... I feel like I'm in one of those cliché action movies where you wake up and everything's different—like your life's changed in the snap of a finger." _My life changed when I was attacked and should have died_ , is really what I want to say.

"Oh..." She sweats nervously at the forehead. "I'm sorry, but I don't watch movies or TV."

I blush for a second. "Sorry. I didn't know. I guess my brother's rub off on me a lot." At brother's, I know Masayoshi and Nobuyuki's eyes are on me. It doesn't take a genius to know.

"Look at the horses!" Shiemi's eyes sparkle as she points down into the arena. "They're so amazing looking. I would love to ride a tame one!" Near one of the empty cages, planted into the concrete floor, is a metal post with at least six horses—two Crimson Red hues, three Midnight Blacks, and one Sickly Pale. Excluding the Sickly Pale, who has albino red eyes, the horses have glowing red eyes. The Midnight Blacks have silky-looking manes that resemble soaring fire extending farther down between the chest and even under to the stomach. They're mightier of the other four breeds, I can tell by the muscle work and how they can nudge the others and boss them around with neighs. I wonder how they don't tear the simple rope that restrains them to the post.

Rin and Shima cautiously approach and then exchange glances.

"Intimidating, aren't they?" Mr. Tsubaki asks, his voicing booming even louder now that he holds a megaphone up to his lips.

"Where's the thingy we use to control them?!" Rin calls up, his voice barely audible compared to Tsubaki's.

"It's called the rein, Rin! Haven't you been to the Wild West?" Masayoshi cups his hands up to his lips, calling out with a side smile. "Cowboys only used their hands. Now get on with the entertainment, I want to see your ass get bucked!"

 _Are you not entertained?_ I think to myself and roll my eyes. Prepared to catch more comfortably, I sit on the edge in front of Shiemi and next to Ryuji's legs, my own dangling over the edge and the coldness of the floor embraces my exposed skin.

Rin advances on the horses first; the closest—A Midnight Black . Its ears fold back, a clear sign of irritation. Rin's calm, which is good, but enough... Shima remains behind, giving Rin a thumbs up. This will only end in disaster. I want to face-palm.

The stockier Midnight Black's ears fold back more as Rin inches closer more like a predator than a friend. It emits a few frightened neighs and backs away, pressing its rear into the second Midnight Black, who does the same thing until The Law of Syllogism takes place. The Sickly Pale horse freaks out the most at Rin's sudden movements and rears on its back legs before kicking one side of the post, breaking it into mini pieces with one fatal kick. The other horses all disperse and a Crimson Red rams straight into Rin's face, taking him with him across the arena. Shima chickens out and grabs onto the bars saying, "screw this!"

"Rin!" Shiemi gasps, covering her mouth, her eyes dearly worried.

"You two fail!" Tsubaki calls out through his megaphone before taking the whip connected to his side. He whiplashes at the horse riding with Rin on its windshield; the whip extends to an abnormal length and snaps the horse on its rear. The horse neighs loudly, rearing in place so it drops Rin to the ground and lands it sharp hooves next to his face. If they had hit his face, it would be smashed in like an easy pumpkin. After that, though, the horse acts surprisingly calm, probably something to do with the whip. Both Rin and Tsubaki gulp. "I didn't... intend for that to happen Rin..."

The horses disperse farther into the arena, moving away from Rin and towards the steep cave-in, where we stand.

"I-I'm okay!" Rin lifts his head up and scrambles out from underneath the horse, but with a determined expression. "Let me try again!" He squats down into pouncing position and I swear I notice there's a wiggling movement under the back of his shirt.

"You've had your go, Rin," Tsubaki says, "so get out of the way for another student before a horse runs you down again."

Rin's face fell and he mutters incoherent words before jogging to join Shima up the stairs. At the same time, Shadow, with his hands in his pockets, slides down past Rin and Shima as they climb up. Shadow shoots Rin a glare as he glides past. I feel bad for yelling at Shadow and Masayoshi, but damn, they fight like a pair of cats and dogs.

"W-Wait, Shadow, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this!" Konekomaru panics and chases after Shadow's silent and moving figure as he slides down and gracefully lands on the ground. Konekomaru attempts to do the same but half-slides, half-trips down until Shadow's back stops him from face planting.

"Shadow and Miwa are our second volunteers," Mr. Tsubaki announces, but by then, Shadow's already in action. My jaw gapes. He was never athletic when we were growing up; well at least that I saw. With almost inhuman speed, he races towards the broken post, grabs a medium sized rope, and jumps along the bars of one of the Reaper's cages (which isn't empty). The Reaper provoked, snaps his wide, ready-to-eat jaws at Shadow. A loud sound, almost resembling a gun, later and the Reaper flips onto its back, almost dead, confusing me. What in the hell did Shadow do to it? Splotches of weird-looking liquid stains his clothes.

"Mr. Chaos!" Mr. Tsubaki gasps.

Shadow pounces off the Reaper cage, not a visible scratch seen anywhere on his body. Damn, he looks even more badass in the movies than I am.

With both hands, he holds the ends of the ropes. He stands still, frozen in time as only his eyes move around the arena at the horses trying to graze, but only receiving a mouthful of dirt from the soil on the arena floor; never reaching an allay feeling. His eyes lock onto one of the Crimson Reds isolated near the arena floor parallel to us. Then he's in movement again. He swerves around and catches that inhuman speed again, running far past the sweating Konekomaru in a matter of seconds. He reaches the Crimson red horse and jumps on him from behind, his hands lifting him over the rump.

The Crimson Red freaked out, begins to the buck on and on, but Shadow stays on—even without holding the horse's mane. His heels dig into the horse's sides as he fiddles around the rope. He leans forward and forces the rope into the horse's mouth and pulls the edges back. Crimson Red neighs even more loudly and walks backward as Shadow pulls the rope farther back, a bead of sweat visible on his face.

The horse decides that it will not break so easily and lunges forward, breaking into a full-on sprint; straight towards the unmoving Konekomaru.

"KONEKO, MOVE!" Ryuji cups his mouth and yells, but Konekomaru does not. He's frozen in fear, his body shaking worse than an earthquake but equally prepares for damage.

Shadow makes no attempt to lead the Crimson Red away from Konekoaru, his expression blank as he faces forward, so I stand up to my feet. "SHADOW, PLEASE, MOVE OR HE'LL BE HIT!" I scream so loud that I don't require to enhance my voice to conquer Mr. Tsubaki's. Everyone turns their heads to me, shocked—even Shadow. I send pleading eyes to Shadow's as mine meet his. Shadow's head twists away and he pulls the makeshift reins to their snapping point.

Still, the horse doesn't listen.

Just as Mr. Tsubaki prepares to stop a horse again, Shadow kicks the sides of the horse, speeding it up. "Shadow, stop!" he commands. Shadow reaches down and scoops Konekomaru in his arms like a little baby and I feel relief flutter my heart. Koneko is all right. I close my eyes and allow my tense shoulders to slump. My teeth stop grinding and I open my eyes again, only to meet the sight of a pokerfaced Shadow sitting on the now calm horse with Konekomaru in his arms. He'd did it! He both saved Konekomaru and tamed the horse. I find myself jumping up and down, squealing with joy.

"Go Shadow!" I cheer. Everyone stares at me like I'm a dork but Shadow smiles at me.

"You were very careless, Shadow and nearly gave your fellow peer injuries!" Mr. Tsubaki snaps and I stop, "I don't think I'll give you that extra credit."

Shadow shrugs, his smile gone. I know he wouldn't care. He swings one leg over the horse and slides off, setting Konekomaru down on his feet and places a gentle hand on the horse's neck. The horse follows him as he leads it back near the Reaper cage and travels back to the ladder. Both Koneko and him climb up and Ryuji touches my shoulder.

"Let's go," he says.


	6. VI: Pain And Concussions

_**Chapter**_ ** _VI_**

 _ **Pain and Concussions**_

I wave my hand over towards the steep hill and say to Ryuji with a hint of sarcasm, "you first. Since you're the head man in this situation."

Ryuji doesn't say a word, rather send me an unimpressed glare, which I return. Placing one foot on the steep cave-in, he presses forward and slides down. I'm up and sit down to do so. The steep ride is like a slide but with a rough texture to its surface. It prickles at my exposed skin as I slide down and I keep my legs closed especially cos' I know Mr. Womanizer is watching; men like him trigger as quick as a dog in heat and I prefer to keep this entire practice simple. When I reach the end, Ryuji offers his hand I take it; we both pull myself up to my feet. I release his hand and brush small debris off my skirt before looking beyond our horizon at the horses growing agitated by the minute with the new strangers and no food. Agitated they act by pawing at the ground with their hooves and blowing steam.

I stand next to Ryuji and turn my head towards him, "which one?" I ask.

He looks back at me. Taking a few moments, he answers, "the pale one."

My eyebrows furrow. "You mean the one who broke the post in one simple kick? A metal one that the creators intended to be _unbreakable_?" I'm proud of the sassy behavior I put on, but Ryuji's actions towards it says otherwise for him.

His lips purse to a thin, pale line. "You're right," he grumbles.

"I think _you_ should reevaluate."

He rolls his eyes. "Let's finish this before Mr. Tsubaki tells us off for slacking."

I nod. I don't know if Mr. Tsubaki would actually yell at us, but I'm not willing to take that chance. My eyes scan the arena, my head turning to cover more area. Ryuji watches me with a curious expression. It hits me—an impulse. My index finger rises without my command and I stare at it shocked as it extends towards a Midnight Black. "That one," I say and Ryuji nods hesitantly, moving into a calm stance you would use to gain footing on a deer for hunting. He's more cautious than Rin as he approaches the Midnight Black horse. It makes no attempt to fear the approaching Ryuji; standing ground with its hooves resting on the steep cave-in.

I follow suit and Ryuji turns to me with wide eyes and raised eyebrows. "What the hell are you doing?" he asks in a whisper.

"Getting a good grade." _I have to impress Mephisto._

"I told you to stay back. You'll get hurt."

"And allow _you_ to claim all the victory? Nada. Zippo. I don't think so." I shake my head, my auburn curls slapping me in the face. _Why do you care so much, Ryuji?_

A sudden awkward cough jerks our attention away. It catches the Midnight Black's too. A frightened neigh emits from its open muzzle as it realizes that we're caving in on it; it's ears fold back against the curls of its raven black mane. A steady beat patters against the ground and it charges at us.

"Shit!" Ryuji cries out, already ready to jump out of the way of the horse, so I do too. At the same time, we jump to the left. I land on my stomach and Ryuji follows suit, landing on my back and sending shock waves of pain through my body when his hands manhandle the poked-out bones on my back. I want to elbow him in the face to knock him off but my body has turned into jello on the verge of collapsing because it's shaking so bad.

Someone whistles—one of those whistles a male uses to attract a female or indicate that she's sexy—then Shima's voice follows, "you go, Bon! You tiger."

"Yo, asshole, get off my sister!" Masayoshi calls out.

"Touch her and you'll regret it," Nobuyuki's next.

"P-Please..." I plead in a shaking voice to Ryuji, if he's even listening. He had long removed his hands from my shoulders, allowing me to only feel relieved for a short seconds before my poked bones burn just from contact from being touched. I can't move to look at him, my body refused to listen to anything my brain impulses told them to work, so I have no clue why Ryuji remained on top of me. Around us, the thudding of besetting horse hooves and that gives me a little reason why. "Please... Ryuji..." I plead once more, trying to sound a little louder for him only to hear.

His hand touches my side gently. "Damnit, I knew this would happen." _Well, it's your fault. There were two ways you could have jumped and you chose the side I jumped at_. "What's wrong?" I hadn't replied and it must have worried him because it's hinted in his tone.

"My back," I replied, "I think you did something to my back because I can't move."

"What did I—"

"Bon, watch out! Horse hooves at eight o'clock!" cried Rin's voice.

Ryuji gasps and there's a huge waft of air above me and a loud thump and a cracking noise, then Ryuji's weight lifts off me. After processing what happened, I weakly lift myself off with my hands to look behind me; taking all my might to do so. There, Ryuji lays on his back, one arm outstretched above his head. I can't tell exactly what's wrong, but I think the horse kicked Ryuji and cracked his skull open!

Everyone else's words never reach my ears. My mind tells me that Bon is too important to focus on anything else.

"B-Bon!" I cry out his nickname and push myself to my knees at least and crawl to him. The Midnight Black's nasty breath emitting from its nostrils trickles down the back of my neck but not as bad as the blood gushing from Bon's forehead. A hoof print mark with small spikes circling around it indents on his forehead as well. As quick as it would allow me to, I throw my torso across Bon's face to protect him from any more fatal damage as it jumps over our figures. In the process, I touch his forehead, feeling the knot from the horse's kick—and a surge of energy leaves my body—what Bon had done had weakened me. And h my God, he's probably has a concussion—or worse—deadly brain damage.

"You're okay..." I whisper to his impassive body and strip him of his jumper, folding it sloppily and laying it underneath his head (I'm surprised the Midnight Black hasn't attacked). I lay his head down gently and pull his hand back to his body before standing. My knees shake worthlessly under my body—both from fear and pain. I have to confront the Midnight Black and lead its attention away from Bon. "Hey ugly!" I yell at it. It understands me and runs the spikes on its hooves along the ground, tearing it like worthless tissue paper; steam shoots from its nostrils as if it were one of those bulls from cartoons.

I need to run—starting now.

Meanwhile, Mr. Tsubaki holds a cellphone to his ear, cavaliering chattering to his Kitten leaving his lips. Rin, holding Shiemi bridal style and a green, flowery creature in his hands, slides down and drops to his knees next to Bon's side and sets Shiemi on her feet. Both Shadow and Masayoshi, bickering while shoving each other, slide down too and run towards me.

Suddenly, all the air in my lungs blasts out when toned fur jabs me across the face. I'm knocked to the ground and my fingers lace through the silky mane of the Midnight Black. It takes off and I'm dragged along the floor with it. Pain drags along with me too; in both my back and legs—the back hooves trample my calves and I'm forced into fetal position before any of my bones could be broken.

"Let go, Chie!" Shadow's voice calls out, but I can't. I surely will have my insides trampled to sand dust.

Screams have long erupted through my lungs and vocal cords, aching them to nothing but dry whimpers emit.

It hasn't sped down, in fact, it's sped up. It's a joyride—at least for the Midnight Black—because I'm not enjoying this at all. It nickers amusingly and jumps to the side. Out of the corner of my eye Shadow's figure had jumped at the Midnight Black, who dodges, so I'm resuming to be dragged along.

Somehow, I must compel the demon; not only because my desire to impress Mephisto compels itself, but because I don't want any more of my new friends to be injured exactly how Bon was.

A new determination courses through my veins and my vocal cords stop screaming in agony as my screaming halts. I reach up and tangle a handful of the Midnight Black's long chest hair then yank at it, pulling myself up enough to level with its constricting muscles. It snorts and jerks to the nearest side I had tugged the chest hair. Am I somehow controlling it from down here? (That's kinda awesome). I tug to the left to experiment my hypothesis; it listens and a spark of hope ignites. If I control this like reigns: I can slow the Midnight Black down.

I grab another handful of hair as high as my arm could extend and pull it in a downward motion towards the Midnight Black's stomach.

My hypothesis works; the Midnight Black slows down.

But only temporarily.

Around the time the Midnight Black slows down (almost to a stop), my fingers have lost all their feeling and coat in a pale hue. I'm almost so close to releasing the mane so the Midnight Black can trot past—but other plans are in store.

"Gotcha!" Nobuyuki—from the sidelines—yells and lunges at the Midnight Black, forcing the startled creature back into its galloping speed and giving me no time to release and know the comfort of not being trampled to death.

This needs to end—and I'll be the one to end it—not Mr. Tsubaki, Rin, my brothers, Shadow, or my other peers—me. To do so, I'll act the way I've never acted before: brute, forceful, and in control.

Growling and grinding my teeth together as I feel the adrenaline, I lift myself back up at the level with the Midnight's Black's chest. Air blows past my hair every direction more than before with the gaining speed, making a mess in front of my eyes. I ignore the aspect and heave myself one more time so my fingers could wrap around the long beard undulating from under its jaw. When I seize it, I yank the beard—and hard—enough to jerk the head down. I press my forehead to the muzzle of the horse, looking into its swirling red eyes and whisper, "obey me."

And it obeys.

The Midnight Black stops immediately and I feel energy drain from my body again. The abrupt stops causes me to slam my face into its chest and let go of its mane, landing on the ground with a _thump_.

My head spins and I feel dizzy and unable to comprehend anything.

Shadow and Masayoshi hover above me seconds later and for once—they're not fighting. Shadow yells something close to "are you okay?!", but it's hard to tell until my mind clears up.

Masayoshi lifts my torso up and rests my back against his knee. I look to each side to seek Bon.

Over by Rin, Shiemi, Mr. Tsubaki, and everyone else, lays Bon's body, but he's no longer zonked out. On his head, only a hoofprint remains—the blood is even gone. We make eye contact and I blink to assure myself that it's real and Bon is okay. It's true, except for one thing: he's not looking at me.

A snort emits behind my head and a gust of hot air blows my hair past my face. Almost scared at looking behind me—my heart racing—I gradually look behind me to meet twelves red eyes staring daggers at me—the horses; all of them. Shadow and Masayoshi jump to their feet but are abruptly thrown to the sides by an unknown force. I feel it, but the pressure doesn't knock me back. They advance on me and I close my eyes, waiting for the smite that injures or kills me.

But it doesn't come.

Instead, soft fur presses gently against my forehead and I open my eyes to see the Sickly Pale nuzzling me. In fact, all the horses surround me; but without hostile movements. My eyes widen. _What the hell..._? I ask myself, _they're tame! How?!_

Mr. Tsubaki sprints to the scene (about time) and pulls his whip up but the horses have already obediently stepped to the sides, parting a path to me. Masayoshi rubs the back of his head and Shadow groans in pain. Damn, the horses are stronger than you think. And it took this entire class period to figure that out.

"Ms. Oshiro, are you all right?!" he asks, but I know he would do anything to be with Kitten at the moment, "you took quite a long ride and... tamed all the horses while you were at it?"

I laugh nervously and scratch the back of my head. "Yeah... It sure looks like it." My hand held my stinging shoulder.

"Mr. Suguro has asked that you accompany him to the nurse's ward," he adds, "besides, I think you need to go anyways. It looks as though you've injured yourself as well in your helpful deed. Mephisto and the Paladin will be thrilled when they hear this."

My eyes widen. Both Bon asked me to accompany him and Mephisto will be impressed? Damn, this'll be a tough school.

My mind isn't thinking right.

* * *

Bon and I remain to be the only ones in the room; the others had to finish the last ten minutes of class without us and had little time to grab their stuff for the last two classes of the day for the Academy. We sit in separate beds but similar style of the white medical beds. The curtains cover all sides of our beds except the one side that allows us to see and talk to each other.

He lays back on the bed with his fingers laced together and resting on his stomach. He was already diagnosed with a minor concussion, but nothing too serious—well, at least serious to enough to cost him his life. I still await my x-ray results while my shoulder becomes number by the seconds.

Bon looks at me, his brown and blonde locks of hair falls along the bandages over one side of his head. "Why aren't you resting?" he asks, "aren't you sore after that ride?"

"I can't," I answer, "it hurts my shoulder when I lay on it." _Like a bitch._

He takes a few seconds to reply. "I'm sorry," he mumbles.

"It's not you—when you jumped on me. There's just been a lot of pressure on it today." My mind flashes back to Eimi and the ride.

We stare at each other for a few seconds but a jolt of pain forces me to close my eyes. They water and the numbing becomes worse.

I feel relieved when the nurse bursts in and announces with a boisterous tone that makes me actually cringe, "I have your results, Ms. Oshiro!" Her blonde curls bounce along happily with her happy expression and behavior. With very alive purple eyes, she smiles at me and walks over to Bon's curtain and closes with one swift tug.

"Hey!" he gasps.

"I'll need you to remove your shirt and lay on your stomach," she says straightforward and Bon shuts up. She leans down towards me and adds but quieter, "and don't worry about your bruises and that little condition you have. Your brothers have informed me about them." Even with that, I still listen hesitantly. Removing my shirt, I lay on my stomach, hugging the pillow to my face. She moves my hair from my back and prods the left bone between my shoulder blades. I hiss in pain. "That hurt, didn't it?" she asks and I nod, "well, dear, it's because it's broken."

"Damnit... and that's something you can't just put in a cast like an arm, right?" I ask and look back at her.

"I'm afraid no and yes. I'll put a cast on it, but not a normal one." From behind her ear, a creature just like Shiemi's (but bigger) jumps out from behind long blonde hair, squealing incoherent words.

I smile at it. "It's cute. What's it's name?"

"I don't know. My little Greenman was sick today so I had to borrow a friend's. But he has some soothing gel that hardens to make a pin that would hold you bone in place and create a cast. I'll need you to lay back again so I can apply it."

I lay back down, burying my face into the pillow. Then the cold gel seeps onto my shoulders and I shudder.


	7. VII: Greetings, Cousin

_**Chapter VII**_

 _ **Greetings, Cousin**_

The demon—with a massive wingspan, body, strength, and nightvision—it rules the cave—without a doubt.

Meanwhile, people threaten to tear it from its talons. It's very home. Men with bright clothing storm through the opening of the cave where the light is its brightest and do as they please—and the demon has had enough of it. It watches them, waiting for the right time to attack and eat its prey.

While the men busy themselves—building stupid contractions that would soon become a tourist attraction for the idiotic people that find stealing a home from a demon an amazing site to see—it attacks—and sadly kills no one. The men, quaking in fear from the disrupting of the demon attack—call the exorcists.

And the exorcists come to their aid.

* * *

I stand out by the gate to the Girl's Dormitory two days later.

It's my first day off from classes and I have nothing better to do this evening; Few girls stand outside in the fresh lightly cool breeze of outside, so I'm all alone.

My shoulder feels better and I'm glad. For the past two days, I haven't been able to do anything; from laying down properly to picking up simple household items. It's been a drag because sleeping in the shitty dorm with Eimi is hell. Even if I wasn't supposed to, I cleaned up my side of the Dorm and the bed—but the memory and the stench still lingers.

I wait for my brother—Nobuyuki—because I can't stand one more day without half my supplies from home. I had to ask a girl in a different dorm down the hall if she had a spare toothbrush (which she luckily did) so I don't contract bad breath. And with my sore shoulder, Masayoshi forbid me from walking anywhere out of the range of the Girl's Dormitory without him. I'm only out now because Nobuyuki is bringing me everything from home (but I'll be honest with ya: I've snuck out three times already with Shiemi, Izumo, and Izumo's friend Noriko Paku. Don't tell!).

Nobuyuki is basically my errand boy (there must be a better word for that); after classes two days ago, he brought me clean uniforms for the next few days and a few pairs of shorts I can use as undergarments. He's sweet—and I treasure his gratitude.

An elbow jabs into my left side and I gasp, swerving around. "H-Hello?" I ask.

Eimi stands there with her hands into her hoodie pockets with a grim expression implanted on her face. Her hand jumbles around in her pocket before she pulls out the temporary flip phone Masayoshi gave me in case I need him. "You forgot this," she says and I hesitantly take it. She's normally... not this kind. Except for the one time she offered a painkiller when I returned the other day with my cast, which I kindly decline. It's not that I don't trust her... it's just, that after that situation with her underwear I feel like she's out for retribution. Paranoid—that's the word.

Her eyebrow cocks up after my shaky hand flicks across her. "Well?" she asks, "are you going to take it or will I have to drop it down a drainage pipe—because quite frankly—I could give less a shit if you take it or not."

"No, no, no! I'll take it." I take my phone and hold it in both of my hands behind my back. "So um—" We awkwardly stare at each other. "—thank you for that. I would have hated if Masayoshi texted me and I couldn't text him back." I scratch the back of my head then stuff it into the back of my jean pockets.

She huffs. "Whatever."

"Ummm... okay..."

The bipolar roommate of mine walks away from both the Dormitory and I and leaves me to wonder: _if she didn't care about my phone or not, why did she bring it in the first place?_

Whatever, I need to keep a lookout for my brother. He's taking a damn millennium to walk his sorry ass here.

I wait longer and it's about another twenty minutes before I see my brother—the royal blue hue of his hair and the heavy jacket (he wears them even in the hottest days of Summer, which are pretty sweaty back in America) he wears able to be seen for miles—with Bon next to him; walking and talking as they each hold a bag of mine. It's refreshing to see Bon okay after a few days... but... why's he here? Waving the two over towards me, I walk to meet them halfway with a small smile tugging at my lips.

"We have yer stuff, sis," Nobuyuki speaks, smiling, "clothes, toothbrush, yer actual cell phone, and other necessities. Oh, and I found Bon wandering aimlessly too. He volunteered to help bring yer stuff to ya!"

My eyes gaze at Bon—his muscles protrude through the short-sleeved white shirt and black shorts he wears—unlike with his uniform which only makes look like an amateur body builder, but now he looks like one of those kinds of people who uses other people as weight lifts.

"Thanks, guys," I say, reaching for my spiral-styled bags but they don't budge or extend the bags towards my grasp. "Can I have my stuff?" I ask, pouting my bottom lip.

"Masayoshi doesn't want ch'ya lifting with yer shoulder," Nobuyuki says, "so he went to Mephisto for permission to allow him to carry yer bags through the Dormitory as long as that's the only thing he does."

"So he passes that burden onto you?" I ask.

"It's not a burden," he replies, "especially for helping out my lil' sis."

My head motions towards Bon as I nod at him. "And does he have permission to come too?" I ask.

"No, but it's not like Mephisto will ever find out." He chuckles.

"You didn't tell me that," Bon retorts.

"Yeah, whatever. Have fun with that," I reply waving my hand to dismiss it, "by the way, Bon: how's your head feeling?"

Bon runs a hand over the small red mark that still conquers his forehead; shifting any eyes on it. "It's fine," he replies, "and it's been fine since the day it happened."

No pain? My eyebrows furrow. "What do you mean? That horse sucker punched you into the other side of the world and you _felt no pain_?" I ask.

He nods at me. "I know. Crazy right? The demon shit that Greenman gave me must have worked."

"It did for me too."

I smile and wish they don't see the fake that the smile reeks. It's mysterious: a herb shouldn't magically cure brain damage. I hope everything is truly okay. Bon's a nice guy and I'd hate to see anything bad happen to him. "Well, I'm glad," I reply, "you looked pretty miserable lying on that bed back at the Ward.

"You did too. I too am glad you're okay."

That comment makes my feeble smile strengthen to a real one. "Thank you, Bon. Those words made my day."

"Alright lovebirds, stop eye bangin' each other," Nobuyuki buts in and I blush.

"Eye banging?!" Bon and I ask and gasp at the same time. "We're not eye banging each other!" We exchange glares. "See! She/He agrees with me!"

"Says the ones talking simultaneously."

"So?!" I growl. "So do Masayoshi and you. Like you're in some gay Host Club."

"We're twins." He chuckles. "We have an excuse and you two don't."

"Whatever." Bon growls and gains some footing beyond us. "Let's get this over with. I have plans for later." I silently agree and push Nobuyuki forward after punching him for the unwanted comment, then follow behind him. We enter through the gates and girls from all over—the few sitting in benches or merely walking the trails traveling around the two Chinese rock gardens located near the walls to the sides (they're pretty awesome to walk around)—stare at my brother and Bon. Some glares are of pure surprise because hey: a boy other than Shima in the Girl's Dormitory is pretty surprising, or disgusting, or even the fact that the boys are attractive.

Me, personally, I don't think they are (duh, one's my brother), but every different girl has their preferred taste.

Many girls wave to Bon as he passes them ahead of us and he does nothing but a simple nod at them before treading on.

I have made little friends. Most girls have avoided me because of the situation with Eimi the other day and since I'm roommates with the unstable abomination. Hey, but those aren't my words. Like I predicted, the rules of high school apply here to the Academy too: _If you don't fit in, you're not our kin._

Nobuyuki must have been trying to catch my attention while I was zoned out and looking all around me because he and Bon stop, staring at me. "Sis?" Nobuyuki asks, "what's wrong?"

"Hmmm?" My head jerks to them. "Sorry, I was thinking. Let's continue walking."

"Well, stop thinking and listen!" he says in a loud and cheery tone and does as he's told. "Do you remember Kiara?" he then asks abruptly.

I puff a piece of my hair up with my breath and groan. Stupid question but I won't say that. "Of course I do, Nobuyuki. She's our cousin, why wouldn't I remember?"

"You haven't seen her since we lived in America."

"So?" I ask, "I wasn't an infant when I last saw her—why do you want me to remember her?"

"Well, she's coming over for a visit tonight and the next few days."

My eyes lighten up. I haven't seen my cousin Kiara since forever! It'll be so refreshing to see her; unlike most of my family—excluding my Aunt (which is Kiara's mother), and my mother—my family's pretty insane. Basically just my brothers. They're beyond crazy. Yes, I love them with all my heart, but for once, I don't want Nobuyuki's crude humor (as seen earlier), and Masayoshi's protectiveness (as I've explained so far) breathing down my neck. And knowing my cousin, she'll party and my brothers will be distracted by something other than me. Also, my cousin is a huge scary movie fan. Huge. Like, she's an otaku for scary movies and throws crushes on child serial killers like Freddy Krueger. Okay, maybe that's crazy, but that's the sort of crazy I can handle.

I used to love the days we would have an us night and do nothing but watch scary movies until our eyeballs melted out of their eye sockets. We once even made Nobuyuki piss himself when Kiara and I dressed up as Doll Tiffany and Chucky from the _Chucky_ movies.

Goodtimes.

The Cherry Blossom trees come into view and their beautiful petals shower the top of my head. I swipe them away By now, Bon has slowed down (and probably calmed down after earlier) and matches my speed. Though he's not looking at me, I somehow feel his gaze upon me. As if he's thinking about me...

Nobuyuki walks behind us as we reach the stairs to the front entrance of the Girl's Dormitory. After a small and silent walk, we approach the entrance of mine and Eimi's dorm. I step out in front of it and tap my fingers together, remembering the embarrassing mess that resides inside.

"What's wrong?" Bon asks.

"My dorm's dirty," I jump straight to the point, "like—hoarder level dirty. But it's not because of me, I swear!" I flail my arms around and it takes Nobuyuki touching the top of my head and ruffling my hair to calm me down. "Eimi's extremely messy and no matter what I do I—"

Nobuyuki's finger presses to my lips, parting them and shutting me up. "Hush, sis. We won't judge you."

"We'll be in and out, so don't worry about it," Bon replies and he and Nobuyuki pass me. Nobuyuki opens the door (Eimi rarely locks it) and they stop dead in their tracks, eyes widened with shock. I smuggle my way in between them and sweatdrop with nervously raised eyebrows. On Eimi's bed is a Mt. Everest of trash, clothes, rotting food, and other dirty items pile until they literally touch the ceiling. Yet, on my side, sits a somewhat tidy state. Bleach and other cleaners surround my bed but sadly stains from Eimi's hoarder room remains (hopefully I'll be able to find a strong cleaner soon). My cleaning gloves, headband, slippers, and scrub brush lay on the fresh-cleaned sheets to my bottom bunk. The top bunk holds baskets of other clothes I'm washing for Eimi but once I'm done I'll sleep up there because the floor gives me nightmares.

"Have ya been cleaning?" Nobuyuki blurts out and drops my bag, grabbing my shoulders and roughly shoving my back against Bon's chest. Bon grunts while I stare at my brother with terror at his outburst. "Masayoshi will kill me! And ya too. Ya know yer not supposed to stressing yer back out!"

I grumble and grab my brother's wrist, tugging him off me. I don't mean to let my emotions spill out suddenly, but I push my brother against my bunk bed by his arm; my mind unable to take so much. I swear my hair is already turning gray. "Nobuyuki, I'm not some stupid princess sittin' her lazy ass in the tower waiting for a Prince to boss her around. I don't give a flying fuck what Masayoshi thinks so you can take all his words and shove it up his ass because I'm sick of being bossed around by you two!"

Nobuyuki stares at, shocked. I'm even shocked with myself. I never burst with anger.

"Damn..." I hear Bon mumble quietly.

I huff and puff and close my eyes. "Look, I'm sorry, Nobuyuki..."

A hand touches my chin and it's lifted up. I open my eyes and see a smiling Nobuyuki. "It's fine, sis. I'm glad yer finally willing to stand up for yerself. Now all ya need to do is tell Masayoshi yerself!" He laughs and seconds later I'm in a small fit of giggles. "Don't worry about me telling you what to do."

"I will, bro. Thank you." I pull my brother into a loving embrace. My eyes close and I lovingly rub my cheek against the fluff of his jacket.

One of his arms wraps around me and the others waves around at my side. "C'mon, join our hug, Bon!" he says excitingly.

"No—" Bon is about to say but Nobuyki brings Bon into the hug with one pull. The bag drops to the floor with a loud _thump_ and Bon's weight crushes against me. I smile, though—for once it's not painful. I turn my head towards Bon and wrap one arm around him and squeezing him close to my side. I reach his collarbone and a slight waft of nice-smelling cologne lifts through my nostrils. The moment actually feels nice—I feel wanted and safe. For once... I'm glad to have body weight crushing me.

Bon's the first to pull away from the hug and when I glance up at him, I see a cute blush dust across his face. "Sorry." I chuckle and link my hands together hover them above my thighs innocently. "That hug felt nice. I'm so glad I could see you both today, but for now, I need to unpack my new things so I can have this whole mess situated."

"It was nice to help out," Bon says, scratching the back of his head, his blush gone. "I guess we'll talk later."

"Bye sis." Nobuyuki leans down and kisses my right cheek before he and Bon exit the doorway. I'm in the middle of shutting the door when he suddenly pokes his head back in, using his hand to pry the door open. "Oh, don't forget sis, Kiara's coming over late tonight, so we're planning to have a slumber party tonight, so we're all together for an all-day party tomorrow! We're even planning to mess with an Ouija Board again!"

Ugh, Ouija Boards are the most boring things ever. The last time we played with one, Masayoshi played a prank on Kiara, Nobuyuki and me (Nobuyuki pissed his pants there too), but no actual demon was summoned. C'mon, if I'm messing with an item that summons demons, I want to actually see one summoned. Then again I've already seen one and they're scary.

Still, I want to seem excited for Nobuyuki's sake.

I jump on the balls of my feet and clap my hands. "That's great! But where?"

"Since Rin's dorm comprises of him and his brother Yukio we've chosen to use the Old Boy's Dormitory as our party area."

I stop jumping. "Uh, where's that?" I ask. He knows I'm new and easily become lost.

"Oh yeah..." he drones, "ya haven't been there before, and I can't give ya a tour because Masayoshi has been up Shadow's ass since I've left and I need to make sure they do nothing... maybe Bon can stay and show you when it's time! Ya two can even go on a date during the wait."

"Wait, what?" Bon speaks up, "there's no way in hell I'd go on a date with her."

Ouch, straight through my heart. Bon must have noticed my eye twist at his harsh words because he adds sheepishly, "umm... well, at least I won't until I get to know you. Okay, I'll stay, but only to show Chie the way to Rin's Dorm later." He pushes past Nobuyuki and stands next to me.

With his hands on his hips, Nobuyuki smirks, satisfied with his accomplishments. "Okay, lovebirds! I can't wait to see ya two later. Now, I'll leave the door open so no funny business goes on while you two are left unsupervised." Bon and I glance at each other before looking away, succumbing to Nobuyuki's words and blushing. "Oh wait!" Nobuyuki opens the door wider. Down the hallway reveals Eimi walking towards us, her red eyes meet mine and I gulp. "Eimi's coming. She can watch ya two."

"What the hell are you three losers doing here?" Eimi asks harshly as she approaches the doorway and almost kicks it off its hinges with one swift kick.

"This is my dorm too," I say to her, fixing the door back in place.

Nobuyuki smiles, unaffected by her rash tone. "I need to leave Bon here with sis but I can't risk them doing the nasties while they're unsupervised. Can you watch them, Eimi?"

"It would be my pleas —"

"We're not five." Bon growls.

"Obviously. If you were, I would happily leave the two of you alone."

"Nobuyuki..." I facepalm. "Ah, screw it." Taking Bon's arm, I pull him into the room and push Nobuyuki's face out before slamming the door and turning to face Bon with a sigh. "Oh my god, I'm so sick of my brother's. They're driving me crazy."

"I can tell," Bon says.

"All they do is boss me around and claim it's because they just want to protect me."

"And that's the first time you've stood up to them?"

"Nobuyuki—yes—Masayoshi—no."

I grab my bags and throw them on my bed, zipping the first one open, seeing clothes like my shirts, jeggings, and some of my homemade clothes.

Meanwhile, the door opens and Eimi steps through. "Why the fuck did you slam the door in my face? This is my dorm too," she says in a mockery tone to what I said earlier. I look at her and roll my eyes before returning to picking some clothes out of the bag and folding them. "Ya know, you're a bitch. Your brother is just worried about this bozo knockin' you up."

"We're not even close to a relationship, so stop thinkin' that we'll have sex!" Bon snaps.

I can feel the grin lift on the sides of her lips—as she does when she's fed the misery of other's suffering. "Oh, but your body says differently. I can tell by the way you touch her—talk to her in a soft voice that you never use with your friends or the other females. Your mind has a chemical reaction towards this female, don't you? Don't deny it." She has him all figured out.

The anger fuming off Bon's body heats the entire room up. "I don't. Screw off." Bad words to feed to her.

Meanwhile, I casually fold my clothes and place them in the baskets I pull down from the top bunk. Please, all this is bullshit. Love, it's a pathetic feeling that's basically worthless until you're of age. And I'm not there yet.

"Yeah, whatever. Don't deny love." The bed bounces as I know she's hopped on her bed. Music from her side of the room blares loud—some band called _One Ok Rock_ if I'm correct. With her earbuds in, it indicates that anyone in her bubble is in the range of her kill zone and shouldn't mess with her. I had to learn the hard way when I shook her and asked her to turn the music down—only to lose a clump of my hair in return. Maybe Bon will have the right mind and not mess with her unlike I did.

I finish the bag of clothes and reach the bottom, finding the light blue case belonging to my phone. Dropping the unneeded flip phone into the bag I pick up my real phone. After picking it up, I check to see if it's on (twenty percent of battery) and type my passcode in. I have a shit-ton of messages and emails and when I pull each one of them up, someone other than me (presumably my brother) had sent the same message: _Fuck off_. I grind my teeth and sit down, preparing myself for an hour of sending apologies. Damn my brothers.

Bon sits down next to me. "What's wrong?" he asks. I shove my phone near his face and show him all the angry messages I have in store. A bead of sweat drips down his forehead. "Oh damn..."

"I'm about to explode..." I mumble and toss my phone aside—it landing on a homemade beanie I had knitted some time back. I cover my face with my hands.

Bon's hand gently touch my lower back and he rubs the tenseness away. "Relax, Chie," he says, "I'm sure your friends will understand that it wasn't you who was texting."

I almost laugh at his words but stifle the sarcastic words threatening to bounce off my tongue. "I guess you're right." I look into Bon's soft eyes and he doesn't exactly smile, but I can see the reassuring expression he displays. He shifts and reaches backward, turning his head and motioning his hand better. He grabs my phone and the light brown beanie it had landed on. My eyebrows furrow. "What are you doing?" I ask.

He holds the beanie and phone in separate hands. His curiosity piques with the beanie. "This is pretty soft. Where did you buy it?"

"I made it." I smile at his dumbfounded expression.

"You did not."

"Yes, I did. Flip it inside out."

He flips it inside out and stares even more dumbfounded at the tag with my name written in it. "Unbelievable. Do you like knitting or something?"

"I love customizing clothes." I smile. "Half of my clothes and Masayoshi's and Nobuyuki's uniforms have been repaired by me."

He smiles. "That's a unique talent." He eyes the beanie.

I eye it too. "You can keep that. I have plenty and it takes me only ten to twenty minutes to put one together."

A blush forms on his cheeks. "You're a nice person."

I take the beanie out of his hands and place it his head. Pulling the hem down over his eyes at first, I adjust the hat until the hem holds over in the perfect place over midway of his head. I gently pull tuffs of his blonde Mohawk out and lay them flat to the side. After a few more readjustments, I stand up, saying, "stay right there," and move distance to view my work. I tilt my head to both sides before smiling. "Perfect. You look perfect in it!"

He chuckles. "That's good." He reaches up to the touch the beanie but I hiss.

"Don't touch it!"

And we share a laugh.

* * *

Bon and I don't do much for the rest of the time while we wait for dusk to come around the corner; talk, eat a small dinner, cower in Eimi's rage, and I even send almost a million apology texts to any of my male friends who Masayoshi sent a pissy text to (luckily receiving a few okays back). I then set my phone on the charger afterward.

Bon loves the beanie I gave him and hasn't taken any opportunity to take it off, and it warms my heart to see him act this way. It makes me ponder, though—since he's headstrong towards his friends and other students, yet acts soft with me—if he's a professional actor, and I'm only being played in his circus like before. I'm smiling though when I'm with him... isn't that good?

Eimi's snoring as she's asleep—and loud, indicating us to make our escape and head to Rin's Dorm for the party. Kiara should be here be now. I'm so excited that I nearly woke Eimi up when jumping up and down.

Walking out of my Dorm after grabbing my phone and stuffing it into the back pocket of jeans, I turn around and lock the door before turning back towards Bon; Eimi's snores still echo in the background.

I link my arm with Bon's and with a giggle, I say, "let's go!" And we walk. Fast. As if a teacher chases us from behind.

Retracing our steps, we leave the Girl's Dormitory hastily and step out of the gate. The cool night breeze blows strands out of my face and I embrace the feeling. Closing my eyes, I inhale the intoxicating scent of the outside air (having been drowning in Eimi's garbage stench for the entire day can drive the sanest man to the utter brinks of insanity), and smile as we walk. Bon leads the way and I remain to hold onto his arm. His eyes stare forward and it's not long before we pass many architectural statues of Mephisto Pheles, wearing an even worse clown suit than I had seen him wearing in person that makes me roll my eyes and giggle. For an important man, he seems as the biggest laughing stalk of the entire Academy.

It doesn't take long. After leaving the trail of the main Dormitories, we reach a long bridge. On the other side of it, this high, and very desolate-looking building casting a shadow that even touches us from the other side. It looks as if the years haven't been great to it—the paint on the side chip away and Through one of the windows a light shines, meaning life did reside inside. Erie. Enough to make me shudder.

"Are you okay?" Bon asks me as we step onto the bridge and walk. He moves closer to me.

"Yeah, the place is just creepy."

"It's abandoned. Mostly. Only Rin and Yukio inhabit the area."

"Why?" I ask.

He shrugs. "I have no clue. Mephisto works in mysterious ways."

I roll my eyes, chortling. "You've got that right."

As we reach the middle of the bridge, a voice calls out my name, "Chie! Cousin!" A female's that should belong the one and only, Kiara. There she is in the distance. Waving her arms frantically, her large bosoms bounce up and down. She wears a Friday the 13th shirt with Jason's mask on it with a black frilly skirt. She looks more like my brothers than me, but more with features than hair style. And oh boy, she's dyed it white. Now Masayoshi, Nobuyuki, and her are the real red white and blue.

"Kiara!" I call her name out and run the rest of the way of the bridge, tackling her into a hug, "it's so nice to see you again!"

"It's so nice to see you too!" She pulls back, holding my hands. I look into her amber eyes. "And after... oh, I don't know... four to five years? Is this your boyfriend?" she asks and I turn my head at Bon as he approaches us.

"No, he was only escorting me to the Dorm so I wouldn't get lost. If my brothers haven't already blabbed to you, I'm new to the school."

"Oh, I know! C'mon, everyone's right over here!" She takes my hand and points at the Dormitory. And she's right—everyone did stand there—at both ends, Shadow and Masayoshi (as it should be), Nobuyuki next to Masayoshi, Shima, Konekomaru, Rin, Shiemi, and Izumo. Most of them smile at me and it's like some large family gathering. The only ones missing are the Puppet Boy and Eimi. As Kiara drags me over to them, I manage to grab Bon's wrist and drag him along with me too.


End file.
